I'm setting no limits, but I focus on matters suggested by these words: Spiritual, mystical, philosophical, metaphysical, psychological, soul, psychic, ESP, awakening, enlightenment, the Source. I do not advocate any organized religion. My thoughts on political and international affairs are in another blog.
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Monday, May 28, 2007

More Strange Questions from a Strange Mind

1. If we have very little inflation in the United States, as we're told, why does everything cost a lot more than it did last year?

2. There’s a kind of gnat in Florida whose lifetime is a single day. The gnats are born one morning and die that night, swarming around lakes and ponds, spending their time mating so that a year later a new generation of gnats will be born to live for one day. What’s the point to that?

3. To a one-day gnat, does the day last longer than for a human?

4. What changes in philosophy of life and ambitions have occurred as a result of humans expecting to live for 70 or 80 years instead of the 30-35 years of their ancestors?

5. How do women know I’m always thinking about sex even if I don’t say anything?

6. Are women correct when they say, “You men are all alike”?

7. Why do women abhor being “sex objects”, while I would love to be a sex object?

8. Why are all babies (human and otherwise) cute – or even “adorable”? (Thanks for the adjectives, Shelley.)

9. Why do so many wives say -- instead of, “It’s getting warm in here” --“It’s so hot I’m about to barf?”

10. Why are there so many different kinds of plants?

11. Which sex (men or women, in case you've forgotten) sighs and moans most audibly while doing jobs around the house? (I know, but I want to see what you say. And the answer is NOT "Women, because men never do jobs around the house." I could see that one coming.)

12. How can people say that Jesus was God and taught a religion of love, and that “God is love” (whatever that means), while still incorporating the Old Testament into their Bibles as “the word of God”?

13. Why do Americans sit up and wag their tails at the idea of “spreading democracy” while the people they’ve elected prove democracy doesn’t work?

14. Why do so many people feel much greater enthusiasm about television "celebrities" and people who repeat lines in front of cameras for a living than about real people? Why is the private life of an actress or actor or singer of special interest, or any interest at all?

First, congratulations. You are the first student in the class to turn in your answers to the quiz(zes).

Second, your answers show that you have studied these subjects extensively. I especially like 2. "the old tree and rocks" and 8. "they wouldn't last five minutes otherwise." On number 8 the correct answer was "Otherwise we'd kill them", but yours is close enough. On number 2 I didn't have a correct answer in mind, and your answer is so original and thoughtful that I'm giving you extra points.

Your only wrong answers were 5 and 7, but I won't deduct for 7 because it would depend on whose sex object I was.

1. There is a very simple answer to that question, Fleming. The government doesn't figure the inflation percentage past the first decimal, leaving quite a large difference in what they say is a "flat" rate, when in fact it's substantially higher than in times past. Look here.

2. These gnats provide a vital source of food to the birds and fish of the area. If they bugs disappeared then that entire eco-system would disappear.

3. I don't think a gnat has any sort of cognizance either way.

4. It's called Survival to Leisure. We've gained tons of leisure time. 5. Jones and Barlow numbers for women amount to one sexual thought every (24*60*60/4.5 =) 19,200 seconds. This means = Men think about sex every 12,300 seconds, while women only have a sexual thought every 19,200 seconds.

6. No.

7. This is because the Patriarchy in general only defines women in this manner. We're not given a choice about it. It's all over the media and we've been objectified in order to keep us from having a real voice. Men on the other hand don't have that to worry about and aren't defined only by their sexuality and so it's a novelty and usually harmless when they are talked about as sex objects. Besides that, women in general (but not every one) aren't visually stimulated in the same way as men. Oh ya I can be knocked senseless when that amazing guy on the treadmill next to me smiles...but you see my point I hope.

8. Babies of all kinds (animals, human, etc.) are cute (heh, you bet, I aim to please) because of a little thing called neotinization, which allows the cutest to survive and be taken care of. It leads to natural selection and evolution of better looking (think golden retriever) and more tame species.

9. What the heck are you doing to your wife to make her barf? Turn on the air conditioner, man!

10. Ah...this all comes back to evolution. There is a faster rate of it when there are more changes to the offspring. Plants adapt to the environment the same way people do, and that's why we have brown, red, yellow, and beige people.

11. I'd say that it depends on the person, and whether they really dislike what they are doing. I don't mind laundry and the man likes to do dishes. I may sigh a bit more when I do dishes until he comes to relieve me. ;)

12. It's called Cognitive Dissonance. Plus, it's a myth, and down the ages people have created myths to suit their needs.

13. It's all about marketing to the unwashed masses for gain. And, Cognitive Dissonance. It is how the Far Right gets working people to vote against their own best interests.

14. When "the people" are entertained they can, for a short time, escape their normal lives. It's about escapism at the heart of it.

Shaaaa, good answers! I was unprepared for such serious, informative answers as some I got from you and dr. Alistair.

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading through your answers alongside my questions. You generated a couple of special thoughts:

2 Would the lack of one day of gnats damage the ecosystem?

3 If you could be a gnat for a day would you be aware of whether or not you have that cognizance? (Your answer was good; my response is just silly.)

11 Interesting answer. I have it on the strength of several reports that on average women audibly sigh and moan more than men while doing jobs around the house. According to what I've been told about myself, men are more likely to say "tomorrow" or to complain loudly about being prevented from doing really important things like blogging.

Alistair, as to questions 5 and 7, I'll bow to your expertise and envy your conversations with women.

As for the gnats, I wish you and Shaaaa would go head to head on that one. Those one-day-a-year mini-gnats do seem incidental, but who knows? They may be in charge of the planet.

I have confirmed that dragonflies ("mosquito doctors" in these parts) eat gnats. I wonder if any other creature does -- other than me when I'm riding fast on a bicycle. I can attest that gnats are quite sweet. I'm surprised that there's not more of a competition for them in the food chain.

Your narrow niche on the food chain (coffee and mini-wheats) makes you unusually vulnerable to extinction, but coffee and wheat are still plentiful, and you stand a decent chance because there is nothing higher on the food chain which is likely to eat you.

As for me, I fall into the omniverous (or "voracious") category, but I would be in very serious difficulty if coffee and beer disappeared.

Why pick on the bible? Although as a focus for hatred, Christianity is very handy. And a required part of belonging to the Bright-Young-Thing-Club, here in the West. Because you can't very well be following Christ whilst enjoying a a continuing soft life on the backs of others. I came to religion over a long rough road, anyone saying I can't think for myself isn't awfully bright. Thinking outside feminism, gay rights, and crack-brained postmodernism, etc, has got me banned from lots of blogs. Religion-phobes are the real slaves.

RH, if you read my other recent posts -- or all my posts -- you'll get a more accurate impression of my views on religion. The part of the Bible I've been "picking on" is the Old Testament, and I think that my recent post, and the comment (guest essay) by Freyashawk, explain that fully.Christ's teachings are a very different matter from the Old Testament stories.

You 'don't advocate any organised religion', well neither do I, but you sure give the Old Testament a good hammering. I know you're not fond of Jews, and I'm ignorant on theology, but have an idea it's important to them. I respect all major religions, because of the humility they bring out in people, I'm at one with them because of that. Meanwhile I just get tired of living in a country whose major religion is constantly held out as the sole villain opposing fashionable crack-brained ideas which are immoral anyway. If some politician here criticises test tube babies for instance, there's a great scramble to find out if he's Christian. -As though that could be the only reason he'd oppose it.

And there are religious myths -but of course, why not, just as little gods sitting in cafes all spruced up entertain myths about themselves. There's no doubting that, I've seen them.

About Me

I've lived many lives in one lifetime while teaching literature and creative writing in several universities, earning my living as a fiction writer for 10 years (4 of them in England), and practicing law (appellate practice mainly). Under my birth name, Fleming Lee Blitch, my children's books -- "The Amazing Adventures of Peter Grunt" and "The Last Dragon" -- were published by J.B. Lippincott Co.; I was a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Fellow as part of an award for Best Children's Fiction of the year. Various other books of mine were published, and I collaborated with Leslie Charteris on a number of books and television scripts in the "Saint" series. I've now retired from law and am devoting myself to playing and writing.